Too Many Supplements? Dealing with Supplement Fatigue

Written by PIM Provider - Veronica Porterfield, MS, LN, MPAS, PA-C , IFMP-C

I’ve been thinking a lot about supplements lately. I’ve been dealing with mold toxin illness, and have found myself wondering some mornings if I even have room left for breakfast with the big pile of supplements I’m taking. I know what supplement fatigue feels like, as I know many of you do, and am familiar with the shock that comes with their monthly cost. I know the challenges to personal consistency with protracted treatment for complex illness, often involving multiple supplements. I just want to reflect on this experience for a moment, and share my process with others who may be able to relate.

Now I rationally understand the benefit to my health of each supplement I’m taking. I’ve even had the benefit of seeing improvement in my lab markers - I know the supplements are working. But at a different level, I harbor some resistance to supplements resulting from a belief inherited from my physician father (also a pharmaceutical skeptic and rugged individualist) that healthy people don’t take pills because healthy bodies don’t need “outside help” to function. By this ideology, lots of pills are for the ill or aged, but if a healthy person is eating well and has a functional digestive tract, there should be no need for pills of any kind.

At a conscious, cognitive level this idea has been disproved pretty soundly in my education and experience over the last two decades. My nutrition training emphasized the depletion of nutrients in our soil and current food supply as well as the shifts in our typical dietary pattern which predispose us to deficiencies in some key nutrients, and there’s also the more recent understanding of genetic polymorphisms that affect the way our bodies are able to absorb, metabolize and utilize nutrients. And this doesn’t even account for an ever-increasing stress and environmental toxin burden that our bodies need to deal with daily and the antioxidants required just to remain at baseline. The net result of all of this is that most of us  benefit from ongoing nutrient supplementation. Turns out our bodies do benefit from outside help, even healthy ones.

So I’ve noticed that my subconscious beliefs about supplements have been shifting. I’ve begun to see the role of a personalized supplement regimen as supportive of my body and health, not just for treating an ailment, but also for optimizing well-being. And there may be periods of frustration with 10+ supplements daily, but I recognize that taking care of myself in this way is a lovely gift to my body that is doing its best; I reframe the hassle and expense of so many supplements as an investment in my present and future health, as one way that I can support myself in the process of becoming my very best self. The supplement strategy morphs over time - I won’t always need a big pile - but the understanding that the baseline for my healthy body includes some additional support is an evolution in thinking.

For those who can relate to this line of thinking, I invite you to reflect on what kind of support your body needs to thrive. If this includes questions about a supplement strategy that’s tailored to YOUR body’s needs and designed to optimize YOUR well-being, please reach out to us. And if you’re on the other side of the spectrum and have had a supplement strategy involving dozens of supplements daily for years, I invite you to try the opposite - consider the support that your body REALLY needs, not the supplements you take based on others’ experience or from worry. Let’s move forward together offering ourselves and each other the support that we need to be our very best.

PIM wants to hear from you! How do you find nourishment and support your body? Can you relate to the thoughts in this article? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Register for our upcoming events!

Are you looking for a more comprehensive, empowering approach to medicine? Schedule a 20-minute free consultation with Veronica Porterfield, PA-C today! Not quite ready to schedule and have questions? Quickly get in touch with us today!